Press

“The US Chamber Doesn’t Speak For Me” is an effort run by international climate campaign 350.org to show that the US Chamber of Commerce does not represent the voice of American businesses on climate and energy policy.

Trumka, McKibben, and Gulf Coast Leaders Join 5000 Young Obama Voters for Rally at White House – March to Protest BP and Chamber of Commerce – Massive Lobby Day on Capitol Hill

Washington, DC – AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, Cherri Foytlin of Gulf Change, and 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben will speak to more than 5,000 young voters at a rally in front of the White House this Monday to demand that the President and Congress stand up to Big Polluters, protect the Clean Air Act, and make corporate polluters like BP pay for their pollution.

They’re calling on President Obama and Congress to end handouts to corporate polluters, make them pay their fair share, invest in a clean energy economy, and create good jobs. Rally participants will then move on to protest at the US Chamber of Commerce, which serves as a front group for Big Polluters, the DC headquarters of BP, and the headquarters of the electric utility Gen-On, which continues to burn coal in Virginia.

Young people will then undertake hundreds of visits to Congressional offices to demand that Congress protect the Clean Air Act and stop taking money from corporate polluters.

The rally wraps up the 4-day Power Shift 2011 Conference where over 10,000 young people engaged in the largest grassroots organizing training in history.

Van Jones, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, and Bill McKibben were among the speakers at the conference that took place at the Washington, DC ConventionCenter.

Power Shift is hosted by the Energy Action Coalition, a coalition of 50 youth-ledenvironmental and social justice organizations.

WHO: 5,000 Young, Forgotten Voters Protest at White House, then March to Chamber and BP

WHAT: Power Shift 2011 Rally

WHERE: White House Rally at Lafayette Square starts at 10am followed by a Chamber of Commerce rally at 11:45am. Then the group will march to BP offices at 12pm

350.org Founder Bill McKibben on “My Life as a Communist”

Washington, DC — 350.org founder Bill McKibben has an oped in the Washington Post today entitled “My Life as a Communist.” McKibben wrote the satirical piece after talk-show host Glenn Beck accused 350.org and a number of other progressive organizations as “communists” on his television show last Friday.

“My life as a communist actually began without me knowing it, on Friday evening, when Glenn Beck spent his program explaining about a ‘communistic’ conspiracy that included 10 groups in America,” wrote McKibben. “One was 350.org, a global campaign to fight climate change that I helped found three years ago. He even put our logo up on his whiteboard – and next to it a hammer and sickle.

Since I don’t actually watch Mr. Beck, I didn’t know about it until e-mails began to arrive, informing me that indeed I was a communist. My first reaction was: I’m not a communist. I’m a Methodist.”

San Francisco — Renowned environmental author and 350.org founder Bill McKibben launched a new campaign against the US Chamber of Commerce this Tuesday with an article now published in TomDispatch, CBS News, Huffington Post, Daily Kos, Common Dreams, Grist.org, and elsewhere.

“What’s become clear is that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, an organization formed in 1912, more than a century after the first local chamber came into being, is anything but a benign umbrella for American small businesses,” wrote McKibben. “Quite the opposite: It’s a hard-edged ideological shop.”

Over the coming months, 350.org will be working with its hundreds of thousands of supporters across the United States to get local businesses and chambers of commerce to state that the “US Chamber Doesn’t Speak For Me” on climate and energy policy.

McKibben explained, “It’s a chance to emphasize that American business should be about nimbleness, creativity, and adaptation — that it’s prepared to cope with changing circumstances, instead of using political cash to ensure that yesterday’s technologies remain on artificial life support.”

350.org expects a virulent reaction from the US Chamber, which is known for its dirty political tactics when dealing with potential opponents. A series of leaks last week revealed that the Chamber was in negotiations with a private security firm to collect intelligence on the chamber’s adversaries, including the group that uncovered the tax data showing where their money came from.

For his part, McKibben is undaunted. “With my colleagues at 350.org, I’ll do what I can to help undermine the chamber’s claim to represent American business. I don’t know if we can win this fight against money pollution, but we’re going to do what we can to clear the air.”

The BIG Poster

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